The Scottish government will spend £61m on social care workforce and capacity in 2010-11, compared with £63.5m this year. It will also cut its contribution to the Social Work Inspection Agency from £4.4m to £4m, and spending on its Safer Children, Stronger Families division will fall from £14.6m to £13.7m.

Councils’ allocation cut in real terms

Scotland’s local authorities, which are responsible for most spending on social care, face a slight fall in real terms in their total allocation from central government for 2010-11 – from £11.76bn to £11.71bn at 2009-10 prices.

However, Swinney pledged he would protect spending on frontline services, and representative body Cosla said local authorities had received a “fair settlement under difficult circumstances”.

Scotland’s 32 local authorities plan to spend almost £2.78n on social work in 2009-10.

This included several key spending commitments on social care, notably that local authorities should provide allowances to kinship carers of looked-after children, at rates set by the Fostering Network, and improve care home quality.

Budget cut in real terms

The total Scottish budget of £29.7bn for 2010-11 represents a 1% decrease from 2009-10 when adjusted for inflation.

But the health budget will rise by 2.4%, with NHS Boards receiving an extra 2.7% on average.